


Stars in Our Eyes

by dearzoemurphy



Series: Fooling Around and Falling in Love [2]
Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: AU, Canon Divergent, F/M, First Date, Fluff, but a lot of fluff don't worry, but only for character development purposes, cute date fluff AND character development??, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 12:09:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12748035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearzoemurphy/pseuds/dearzoemurphy
Summary: Just when he thought all of the stars in his eyes had been extinguished, she lit them up again, and gave him the hope he needed to keep going.Alternate title: Zoe and Evan's first date and all the fluff and angst that goes along with it!! Follow up to my AU fic where Evan and Zoe meet at a party and Connor's not dead, but can stand on its own.





	Stars in Our Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!! It's been awhile. I know I should have finished the Jared fic first, but I plotted this out during small bursts of inspiration during the band season and finally got a chance to sit down and write it all out!! I hope you all enjoy this, and more works are coming very, very soon!! <3

Evan chewed on his fingernails, leaning against his car. He glanced nervously at his watch, seeing that he was seven minutes early for him and Zoe Murphy’s first date. The two had met at a party a few weeks ago and hit it off immediately, and kept conveniently running into each other in the school hallways and texting as much as possible ever since. Evan finally had a weekend without a park ranger volunteer shift, so he asked Zoe out on their first official date. She requested a picnic at the apple orchard, and Evan was more than happy to oblige. However, once he got there, it seemed as though the place was closed and run down. He decided to wait until Zoe arrived until deciding what to do next. Checking his watch again, he chewed on another fingernail. Three minutes until their meeting time. His compulsive staring at his watch was interrupted by the squeal of car tires and a wave of car exhaust. He quickly shot up and peered into the car in front of him. Letting out a sigh of relief, he saw Zoe hop out of the car, picnic basket in hand, and slam the door behind her. Evan squinted at the driver, who had long, greasy hair, was dressed in dark clothes, and looked to be about his own age. The other boy flipped up his middle finger towards Evan, then threw his car in reverse and sped off. Zoe turned in the direction of the car and sighed, then turned back to Evan.

“Hey, Ev! Sorry about my brother, I was supposed to drive here alone but he needed the car for something later today so I had to bribe him in Cheetos to drive me here,” she said, taking his hand and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Evan’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry, I could have picked you up! Just text me next time, okay?” he said.

Zoe raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Next time, huh?” she said, a grin starting to spread across her face, “this time has just started.”

Evan’s face flushed. “I mean…I didn’t mean…I’m sorry,” he stammered.

Zoe giggled and leaned in to give him another kiss on the cheek. “I’m just teasing, babe,” she said, squeezing his hand.

Evan breathed an unconscious sigh of relief. “Okay good! I mean, we aren’t dating officially yet or anything so I wasn’t sure- wait, back up, did you say you bribed your brother to drive you here in Cheetos?” he asked, tilting his head.

Zoe laughed, then shook her head. “It’s amazing what a stoner will do for snack food,” she said.

Evan’s eyes widened again, but he simply nodded. “Alright then…um, so I know you wanted to come here but it looks like it’s closed, and has been for a while,” he said, gesturing to the run-down “tickets and information” booth to their left.

Zoe nodded. “Yeah, it’s been closed for a couple years now. My family used to come here alot when I was younger, but I’ve been back a few times by myself to explore,” she explained.

“Wait, but isn’t that trespassing?” Evan asked, concern seeping into his voice.

Zoe grinned. “Everything’s legal when the cops aren’t around, and no one ever comes around here. Come on, there’s a missing part of the fence a little ways this way,” she said, tightening her grip on Evan’s hand, turning, and starting to run from the gravel path to an open field, divided by the fence. Evan was surprised and struggled to keep up, gripping Zoe’s hand tighter in return as they ran down the gently sloping hill. Zoe laughed, her hair flying back into the wind, picnic basket hitting the side of her leg. She glanced back to Evan and grinned.

“Just a little further, it's not too far down!” she said after they had been running for a while. Shortly after, she stopped suddenly, causing Evan to run right into her. Zoe lost her balance and almost fell, if not for Evan stopping himself and quickly extending an arm to catch her. The picnic basket clattered to the ground, but miraculously didn't tip over.

“Oh my god I'm so sorry!” Evan said, wrapping both arms around Zoe and picked her up to place her back down on both feet. She giggled as he picked her up, and looped her arms around his neck once she was back on the ground.

“What do you mean? I didn't warn you before stopping, don't apologize,” Zoe said, face inches away from Evan’s.

Evan simply blushed and looked to the ground, pulling Zoe slightly closer to him with his arms around her waist.

Zoe smirked and closed the gap between the two of them, planting her lips on Evan’s. He responded by drawing her even closer to him and returning the kiss.

“Well, that's certainly one way to start a date,” Evan said, chuckling softly as they broke the kiss to come up for air.

Zoe smirked again. “What is that supposed to mean?” she asked, their faces still only millimeters apart.

Evan shrugged. “I just didn't think I'd get to kiss you again so soon, and I've really wanted to,” he said a grin spreading across his face, then blushing when he realized what he'd said out loud.

Zoe grinned, and leaned in for another, deeper kiss. After a few moments, she squeezed Evan's shoulder and left his embrace. “As fun as this is, I want to actually show you around here, so you'll have to wait a bit longer for the next one,” she said, smirking.

Evan’s face turned beet red. “I'm perfectly okay with that. I just want to spend as much time with you as possible,” he said, smiling and trying to make his blush go down.

Zoe grinned even wider, gave Evan a quick kiss on the cheek, then quickly ran over to pick up the picnic basket. “You know, you're legitimately the sweetest, most adorable person I've ever met in my entire life, right?” she said, giggling as she took his hand to lead him to the entrance.

“That's the first time anyone has ever thought that about me, so no I didn't know that,” he said, a hint of humor in his voice. He followed Zoe as she lifted a corner of detached chain link fence and ducked under the top bar.

“Oh you poor thing,” she replied, leading him through the fence’s gap.

Evan stood up on the other side of the fence, then shrugged. “I don't need pity. I'd rather have a few true friends than more pity friends, and I know you're a true friend but I just- sorry, it just bothers me,” he stuttered, a light blush crossing his face.

Zoe’s eyes widened. “Oh, I'm so sorry! I won't mention it again, okay?” she said, squeezing his hand.

Evan looked down and smiled at his girlfriend, and squeezed her hand back. “It's completely fine, Zoe. I know it's only because you care,” he said softly.

In one swift motion, Zoe stood up on tiptoe and turned in to kiss Evan once more, their noses bumping and lips softly pressing together.

As Zoe moved down from tiptoe, Evan chuckled.

“What?” she asked, giving a slightly frustrated smile.

“You said I'd have to wait longer for the next kiss,” he said, smirking.

It was Zoe’s turn to blush. “Well…sorry, I just can't help myself around you!” she said, giggling.

Evan put his arm around Zoe and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. “I'm so grateful I met you,” he said.

Zoe wrapped her arms around Evan’s torso and buried her head into his shoulder. “I'm glad I met you too,” she said, smiling into him.

After a while of holding each other, Evan squeezed Zoe’s shoulder. “Shall we go and finally explore the orchard?” he asked.

Zoe shot up. “Oh of course! Oh gosh, I just forget everything when I'm with you. I know just where I want to take you first,” she responded, untangling herself from Evan and picking up their picnic basket.

Evan beamed, at a loss for words. He took her hand and interlocked his fingers with hers. Zoe grinned back.

“Our first stop is just down this hill and around the corner,” she said, tightening her grip on his hand and beginning to cautiously lead Evan down the steep hill, carefully avoiding thorny patches and assorted other debris. The pair finally reached the bottom of the hill, and Zoe turned around to check on Evan.

“You doing okay?” she asked.

Evan smiled and nodded, and Zoe grinned in response.

“Great! The worst part’s over, now we can just stroll until we reach the chicken coop,” she said, squeezing Evan’s hand and slowing her pace to match his.

Evan raised an eyebrow. “Chicken coop?” he asked, inquisitively.

“Oh fuck, I didn't mean to spoil the surprise!” she responded, bringing her palm to her face, but forgot the picnic basket was looped around her arm, so it hit her in the chest.

“Shit, I'm just messing everything up now,” Zoe said, laughing as she rubbed the spot where the basket hit her.

Evan chuckled softly. “Are you okay?” he asked, slightly amused.

Zoe nodded and grinned. “Yes I'm fine, I promise. Also about the coop, the orchard used to raise chickens and other animals, but I guess the chickens weren't worth enough for the owners to bother taking when this place closed, so they're all still here, happily living out their little chicken lives,” she explained.

Evan smiled. “Sounds nice. This whole place is really nice actually, for having been closed for a while now,” he said.

Zoe beamed. “I know, right? I thought everything would have died by now, but it all seems to refuse to. It's kinda beautiful, actually. Everything here was completely dependent on the humans who put it here, but it's become independent over the past few years,” she said, gazing into the rows of trees as her and Evan slowly walked down the dirt path.

Evan looked over to Zoe and smiled sweetly down at her. “That's really deep actually,” he said, admiring her admiring the trees.

Zoe suddenly turned back around, noticing Evan smiling at her, and grinned back up at him. She was about to say something, but was cut off by a squawking noise. Evan jumped, and Zoe laughed.

“Sounds like we’re here!” she said, turning towards the direction of the sound and leading Evan around the row of trees in front of them, revealing a wide clearing. On the left was a slightly decaying, run down shack that housed the birds. Zoe squeezed Evan’s hand then let it go, rushing over to the flock of chickens. Evan slowly approached the group, watching Zoe as she knelt down and opened the picnic basket to pull out a bag of feed. The birds got louder and flocked closer to her as she began to scatter some of it on the ground around her.

“Hey Camila, looking good Tina, and Jose! How's it hanging Jose?” she said, Evan overhearing her talking to the birds. He smiled at her as she continued to talk to and feed the birds, calling each of them out by name.

“How can you tell them all apart?” Evan asked, piping up after several minutes.

Zoe looked up. “That's the secret. I can't, really. Except Jose and Camila, Jose because he's the only rooster and Camilla because she's bug eyed,” she answered, giggling.

Evan smiled in return, then kneeled down beside Zoe. In response, the chickens began to flee the area.

Zoe chuckled as she caught Evan pouting slightly. “Don't take it personally, it took me a couple visits before they would come say hi to me. Then again, I also might have killed one of them years ago,” she said, trailing off.

Evan’s eyebrows shot up. “Killed one of them?! How?” he asked, extremely confused and concerned.

Zoe laughed. “Well, my kindergarten class took a field trip here, yours probably did too, right? But anyway, there used to be a chain link fence around this area before I took it down, and there were a bunch of dropped apples around here so our tour guide told us we could pick some of them up and toss them underhanded into the enclosure. They underestimated the power of a little kindergartener who was insanely good at Wii bowling, not to brag, so I chucked one like a bowling swing and it hit a bird in the head so hard that its head was cocked to the side and I didn't see it go back to normal,” she explained, busting out laughing by the end.

Evan’s eyes widened. “How do you know you killed it?” he asked.

At that point, Zoe was laughing so hard she was crying, so she wiped away a tear. “I don't for sure, but the next time my family and I came here, there was a full cage over the whole enclosure so you couldn't throw apples in,” she said, leaning into Evan’s shoulder as he fully sat down on the ground next to her.

Evan put his arm around her and kissed her on the head. “Well, thanks for disclosing to me that you're a chicken killer,” he said, jokingly.

Zoe groaned and buried her head into Evan’s jacket. “You smell really nice,” she said, somewhat muffled.

“Are you attempting to change the subject?” he asked, accusingly.

Zoe shifted so that she was sitting directly in front of Evan, then sat up and smiled. “Potentially,” she said, then grabbed the collar of Evan’s jacket and pulled him in for a kiss. Evan wrapped his arms around her in response, pulling her into his lap.

“That's one way to make someone forget you're a chicken killer,” Evan joked, lip trembling as the pair pulled away for air.

Zoe laughed and playfully swatted at him. “There's no undeniable proof!” she screeched, laughing as Evan ducked and evaded her attempted attacks. Eventually, Zoe became frustrated and launched herself fully at Evan, accidentally taking him down to the ground with her. They crashed to the ground and she landed on top of him, causing both of them to blush. After gazing into Evan’s eyes and blushing for a few moments, Zoe finally came back to her senses and sprung up off of her boyfriend, standing up quickly. She held out a hand to help Evan up, which he gratefully took, a light blush still gracing his face.

“Sorry about that,” Zoe said, finally breaking the awkward silence that fell upon them.

“Oh it's completely fine! We were just playing around and it just got...awkward for a moment but it's fine!” Evan responded, digging in the dirt slightly with the toe of his shoe.

“Um, do you want to go have our picnic at our next stop?” Zoe asked, trying to direct attention away from the events of the last minute.

“Yes, absolutely!” he responded, nodding enthusiastically.

“Great! I'll uh, get the picnic basket and say goodbye to the chickens,” she said, scurrying a few feet away to collect the basket, and waved to the flock of birds.

“Bye bye little birdies! I'll see you all next time,” she cooed, taking a long look at the run down chicken coop and muttering something, then turning and running back to Evan.

“Okay, let’s go!” she exclaimed, lacing her hand with his once more.

“Which way are we walking?” Evan asked.

“This way,” Zoe said, pointing straight ahead of them and beginning to leisurely walk towards the secret destination.

The pair walked in comfortable silence for several minutes, simply taking in the scenery and enjoying each other’s company. Evan couldn't believe how well kept up the whole orchard appeared since it had been closed for so many years. The trees and animals that should have been dependent on the people raising them and the chemicals and sustenance they gave them since it was all they had ever known, but they were finding a way to prosper on their own. Like Zoe had said earlier, it was beautiful.

“Evan! Evan!” Zoe called, snapping her fingers near Evan’s face.

He snapped out of his daze, derailing his train of thought. “Oh! Yes? Sorry, I zoned out for a bit,” he apologized.

“It's okay! What were you thinking about?” Zoe asked, looking up at her boyfriend.

“What you were saying earlier. About the orchard continuing to survive despite being abandoned,” Evan answered, scanning the trees surrounding them at the moment.

Zoe nodded in agreement. “I love this place so much. It's my go-to escape since it's not super far from my house, and no one would ever look for me here,” she said, thoughtfully.

Lines of concern crossed Evan’s face. “Why would you need an escape place? I'm glad you have one, but I'm worried why you need one,” he asked and then clarified.

Zoe took a deep breath. “My parents fight. A lot. My dad is somewhat of an alcoholic, and he's always super pissy whenever he's drunk. My mom doesn't know how to help herself and hasn't had to support herself in decades so even if she wanted to leave him, she can't. Connor’s high all the time because of it, and my parents don't know how to deal with his mental stuff anyway. I get tired of hearing them all lose their shit at each other and lose their shit at me when they're tired of being mad at each other, so I have to escape,” she said, tears pricking her eyes.

Evan was overwhelmed by emotion and stopped walking, then quickly pulled Zoe into a tight embrace, rubbing her shoulder and resting his head on top of hers. Zoe was surprised by the sudden outburst of affection, and matched the hug, dropping the picnic basket and wrapping her arms tightly around Evan’s chest.

Evan squeezed then let go of Zoe after a few moments, tears forming at the edges of his eyes. “I...I had the same things happening before my dad moved out. My parents fought all the time, he was a drunk, a bum...he hurt my mom,” he stuttered, the tears beginning to slip down his cheeks.

The tears that Zoe had just barely managed to suppress found a way out, creating small streams that matched Evan’s on her cheeks. She dove headfirst into his arms once more, the pair embracing even tighter than before. They embraced in silence, the only sound being the occasional sniffle or deep breath. When they finally let go of each other, Zoe brought her hands immediately up to hold the sides of Evan’s face.

“I’m so sorry,” she said quietly, tears still pooling in her eyes.

Evan shook his head and brought his hands up to hold Zoe’s. “It's not your fault. And it's in the past, you're dealing this right now. I want to help you anyway I can,” he said, tracing small circles with his thumbs on the backs of her hands.

Zoe gave a weak smile. “Just because something is in the past doesn't mean that it isn't allowed to affect you anymore. We can help each other,” she said, getting up on tiptoe to plant a chaste kiss on Evan’s lips.

He smiled and squeezed her hands, then moved his to her waist, pulling her closer to him. “I've never met anyone who's put up with me for this long and still wanted to help me,” he said, giving a dry laugh.

“Oh babe,” Zoe said, lip quivering as she looked up into his eyes, “I'd do almost anything to help you now.”

“And I'd do the same,” Evan said, a bright smile crossing his face.

Zoe smiled in return, and got on tiptoe again to kiss Evan, but this time, he kissed back and pulled her even closer.

When they drew apart, Zoe looked up, still smiling. “I think we're really close to our picnic spot, shall we?” she asked.

“Yes of course! This detour was strangely kind of nice,” Evan answered, chuckling.

Zoe picked up the basket once more and laughed. “Yeah, I agree. I feel...freer than I have in a while,” she said as Evan took her hand this time.

He smiled down at her,and leaned down to give her a quick kiss on the forehead. Zoe beamed in return, squeezed his hand, and began leading him over the hill to their picnic spot.

 

* * *

 

“So, if you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?” Zoe asked, grabbing a grape from a bowl on their picnic blanket. The stream rushing next to the pair gurgled in the silence while Evan pondered the question.

“I think I'd like France quite a lot. Somewhere rural, but close enough to the city that I could go into town for a weekend. What about you?” he asked in return, picking up his sandwich to take a bite.

Zoe rested her chin on her hand, popping another grape in her mouth. “I'd like to live in a big city, but have a summer home or something like that in the country. New York might be nice,” she responded thoughtfully.

“I've been to New York once, but I don't remember anything super well except losing all of our bags and them not being found until halfway through the vacation. My dad got really mad at the manager there, I actually started bawling because him being upset and yelling at other people made me upset, so he had to leave the workers alone and take care of me,” Evan said, chuckling slightly.

Zoe gave a half hearted smile. “Reminds me of one of our ski trips, Connor and my parent’s bags were lost but mine miraculously made it through so they all kept trying to steal my winter clothes until they all got new jackets and shit from the lodge’s gift shop,” she said, gazing into a treetop.

“Did they ever find the other bags?” Evan asked.

Zoe laughed. “That's the best part, they somehow got put on a flight to Zimbabwe, my dad’s bag got misplaced at the airport there, then my mom and Connor’s were sent to Maryland, then California, and then he lodge three weeks after we had left,” she concluded, giggling.

“Wow, at least ours just accidentally got left off of our flight,” Evan said, finishing his sandwich and wiping his mouth.

“I hated airplanes for a while after that actually because of it since I was so young, I thought it was a monster and had eaten my family’s bags,” Zoe said cracking up, “Connor and I got a remote control plane a few years later and he would make it chase me around with it. It honestly terrified me at first, but my dad tried to teach me how to fly it to get back at Connor. It worked until he flew it into this stream right here,” she concluded, giggling. However, a darkness that wasn't present before was suddenly cast over her face.

Evan smiled. “That sounds fun. Um, this might be a strange question, but do you actually like Connor?” he asked, wincing slightly as the words flew out of his mouth.

Zoe cringed, but quickly relaxed and gave a deep sigh. “Yes. No. I don't really know. He's frustrating, he's always beat up on me ever since I was born, he's always high, and sometimes, he makes me fear for my safety. But he's still my brother, and we have our good times,” she said, hands unconsciously balled into fists and tears threatening to slip out onto her cheeks.

Evan swiftly moved to Zoe’s side of the blanket and wrapped himself around her. She leaned back into his embrace, the pair’s heads resting on each other’s shoulders.

“I'm sorry I asked,” Evan said quietly.

Zoe turned to face Evan, their faces centimeters apart. “It's okay, babe. It's not your fault at all,” she said, barely audible as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat.

Evan gave a deep sigh as the couple moved even closer together, becoming almost like one person; Evan’s arms wrapped around Zoe and her’s placed on his, the two breathing steadily together, matching single tear streams on their left cheeks.

 

* * *

 

“Thanks for driving me home,” Zoe said, leaning over the console to give Evan a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Do you want me to walk you to your door?” he asked, one hand resting on the door handle.

“Do you want to risk meeting my parents?” Zoe asked sardonically, raising an eyebrow.

“I'll take my chances,” he responded cheerfully, smiling at his girlfriend. Zoe smiled back, then swung her door open and grabbed her picnic basket in one swift motion. Evan met Zoe on the other side of her car and took her hand. The pair walked up the long gravel path to the Murphy’s front door in silence, swinging their arms slightly.

“Thanks again. For everything,” Zoe said once they had reached her front porch. She took Evan’s free hand with her’s and got up on tiptoe to kiss her boyfriend once more. The quick, chaste kiss didn't last long, as Evan moved his hand to behind Zoe’s neck and her’s moved to wrap around his. The couple’s moment was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Evan turned and jumped, and Zoe clung tighter to him, panicking slightly. However, she relaxed immediately upon the sight of her mother.

“Well hey kids! Sorry, am I interrupting something?” Zoe’s mom asked, stepping out of the house and onto the porch.

“Oh no, not at all! Evan was just walking me up to the door and saying goodbye,” Zoe said, jumping to Evan’s side and taking his hand.

“So you're the Evan I've heard so much about? I'm Cynthia, Zoe’s mom,” she said, stepping out to hold a hand out for Evan to shake.

Evan took it and gave a firm handshake. “Pleasure to meet you ma’am. You should know that your daughter is one of the most amazing, beautiful people I've ever met,” he said, smiling as a light blush graced Zoe’s face.

Cynthia grinned. “You seemed like quite the gentleman! I'm glad Zoe found someone like you,” she said, beaming at the happy couple.

Evan smiled back. “Well, it was nice to meet you ma’am, I should get going so I can make it back home before curfew,” he said looking between Cynthia and Zoe.

“Oh yes, of course! I'll leave you two to say goodbye,” she said, waving and quickly stepping back into the house as Zoe turned bright red.

As the door shut, Zoe wasted no time in grabbing Evan again and continuing their interrupted kiss. The pair pulled apart only once they were gasping for air.

“I love you, babe,” Zoe said, still blushing and grinning.

Evan grinned back, admiring how the stars seemed to all shine in her eyes. “I love you too. And your mom seems nice,” he said.

Zoe snorted. “Way to ruin the moment by following up an ‘I love you’ with ‘I like your mom’” she said, amused.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin the moment!” he said, flustered. Zoe responded only by moving in and giving him another deep, affectionate kiss.

“I still love you, though. I almost love you because of it,” she said, forehead pressed against Evan’s.

The couple took a breath at the same time, then drew apart. They began to walk their opposite ways, Zoe waving as she ducked into her house and Evan saluting as he began to make his way down the long, winding path. As he was walking back to his car, he grinned. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to be in love with someone so amazing. The stars previously reflecting in Zoe’s eyes were shining in his own, the memory of their last kiss almost putting a spring in his step. Reaching his car, he took a look towards the Murphy house, and caught a glimpse of Zoe and Cynthia through a window with the blinds up, the two enthusiastically talking in the kitchen. He smiled, then glanced at two other windows illuminated by soft light, most of it shuttered in. Swinging open his car door, Evan pondered Zoe’s dad and Connor. They probably hated him without even knowing him. But that was a worry for another day. For now, he decided to focus on the faint smell of Zoe’s perfume wafting throughout his car, and the smile on her face when she was waving goodbye. God, he couldn't believe how lucky he was to have met her. Just when he thought all of the stars in his eyes had been extinguished, she lit them up again, and gave him the hope he needed to keep going.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!! As always, leave any thoughts, criticisms, and comments below, and give kudos if you enjoyed!! Any and all support is very much appreciated, hopefully the rest of the Jared story will be up within the week and more will follow!! <3
> 
> (Also the chicken killing story may or may not be a real event from my life)
> 
> ((May or may not be))
> 
> (((Don't @ me)))


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